Comments

PennsylvaniaDOT: 175.67For cars and light trucks, nothing can obscure the view through the windshield.

Same laws for New Jersey and Delaware, both just minutes away.

If a windshield or dash mount that only blocked a view of my car's hood, would that still be against the law? Or perhaps arguable in court if ticketed?

Where am I supposed to mount a gps unit?

Thanks,

Andy

Moderator: Move to the GPS Discussions forum. Sorry!

I'm in NJ, and as far as I know the police are not pulling people over for having a windshield mounted gps. I see a lot of cars with these. Such a law would also apply to things hanging from the mirror, but I'm not aware of a crackdown there either. I've not heard of this in PA either.

Regardless, I have a vent mount for my and my wife's gps - mainly because it makes the unit more accessible, easier to view, and easier to mount/unmount.

I am also in NJ and I am unaware of any crackdown on windshield mounted GPS units. I think the term "unobstructed" is in the DMV laws of about every state. The key is in the interpretation. California flat out states nothing can be mounted to the windshield, though I think that is about to change. I do not thing that a GPS devices are the target, rather radar detectors.................

PennsylvaniaDOT: 175.67For cars and light trucks, nothing can obscure the view through the windshield.

Same laws for New Jersey and Delaware, both just minutes away.

If a windshield or dash mount that only blocked a view of my car's hood, would that still be against the law? Or perhaps arguable in court if ticketed?

Where am I supposed to mount a gps unit?

Thanks,

Andy

Moderator: Move to the GPS Discussions forum. Sorry!

I'm in NJ, and as far as I know the police are not pulling people over for having a windshield mounted gps. I see a lot of cars with these. Such a law would also apply to things hanging from the mirror, but I'm not aware of a crackdown there either. I've not heard of this in PA either.

Regardless, I have a vent mount for my and my wife's gps - mainly because it makes the unit more accessible, easier to view, and easier to mount/unmount.

I have a MountGuys vent mount for my Magellan...They are far from the sturdiest thing, but seem to do the job. I also like that the mount is lower and you can just remove your GPS unit without having to worry about a windshield mount advertising to thieves.

Don't forget the handy 'cup holder' mount, available for free on pretty much any car made in the last 10-15 years. Once my TomTom acquires the satellites, I pop it into a cup holder just below the dash and it holds the signal. I set the angle so it's easily visible with just a glance. Added plus is that there are no suction cup marks on the windshield so I'm not an automatic target for thieves.

Don't forget the handy 'cup holder' mount, available for free on pretty much any car made in the last 10-15 years. Once my TomTom acquires the satellites, I pop it into a cup holder just below the dash and it holds the signal. I set the angle so it's easily visible with just a glance. Added plus is that there are no suction cup marks on the windshield so I'm not an automatic target for thieves.

Glad that works for you, but I prefer to see the GPS more or less in front of me but out of my direct vision. I remember using the Hertz NeverLost system once and the worse part for me was having to take my eyes off the road so much to look down at the unit.

Don't forget the handy 'cup holder' mount, available for free on pretty much any car made in the last 10-15 years. Once my TomTom acquires the satellites, I pop it into a cup holder just below the dash and it holds the signal. I set the angle so it's easily visible with just a glance. Added plus is that there are no suction cup marks on the windshield so I'm not an automatic target for thieves.

That wouldn't work for my TomTom 920, it won't fit horizontally and to have it be vertical would be ridiculous. As Patruns said, it's too much out of the way to look at. The $10 mount I got from MountGuys.com works fine.

(1) How easy is it to remove the cup holder mount (once the GPS unit is removed) ... does it lock in place, or do you have to use some sort of tool to remove it?

(2) What about the bean bags ... Amazon.com sells several types, and I would have purchased on when I ordered my Magellan 1412 except that the shipping cost 3X the cost of the device ... bummer ... Anyway, are they any good? I have a Toyota Matrix and the dash sorta slopes down from the windshield to the passenger compartment.

Ha, I remember that one too! No, my car has a couple of built-in cup holders below the dash. I leave the TT ONE on its mount and just pop the mount into the cup holder, then angle the screen so it's facing up. Granted it's not directly horizontal to my line of sight (as it is when windshield mounted), but it's not too hard (nor dangerous) to take a quick glance down there to check my current location, next turn, etc. Added bonus is there is no glare that I get when windshield mounted.

I should add the caveat that this is not necessarily recommended for intense city freeway driving at 75 MPH, when that quick glance can translate to a few hundred feet of road travelled.